There the Roman shield was at disadvantage, for it was too heavy to be shifted swiftly, and the savages crouched, thrusting upward.īack to back we stood, and as a man fell, we closed the ranks again. It was fighting at very close quarters, for the savages were better adapted to such battling, and the Romans trained their soldiers in the use of the short blade. Short savage sword clashed on short Roman sword. While scarce one of them topped five feet in height, their incredibly broad shoulders denoted massive strength. Scarce any clothing they wore, and they bore small round shields, long spears, and short swords with oval-shaped blades. Small unblinking black eyes glinted malevolent spite, like a snake’s eyes. Dwarfish, hairy men, they were, bowed and gnarled of limb, long and mighty of arm, with great mops of coarse hair topping foreheads that slanted like apes’. I looked at the wolves in human guise that ringed us round. There were Britons, Germans, and a flame haired Hibernian. There were Romans from Latinia and native-born Romans. I glanced at the men who were my comrades. Battle, bloodshed, carnage.Īnd word would go to the emperor in his fine palace, among his nobles and women, that another expedition had disappeared among the hazy mountains of the mystic North. Marching over heather hills by day, hacking a crimson trail through blood-frenzied hordes, close camp at night, with snarling, gibbering beings that stole past the sentries to slay with silent dagger.
Zeus, what a plan! Five hundred men, sent forth to hew a way through a land that swarmed with barbarians of another age. Thirty men! Thirty, the remnant of the troop of five hundred that had marched so arrogantly from Hadrian’s Wall. Then for a moment they drew off and stood at a distance, gasping curses, blood from sword thrusts making strange patterns on their woad-painted skins. Yet they flung themselves naked to the fray with as fierce a valor as if they were clad in steel. One advantage we possessed: we were armored and our foes were not. Those blades were red, but corselets and helmets, too, were red. Back to back we stood, shields lapped, blades at guard. On all sides they swarmed upon us, a hundred to thirty. “ Ailla! A-a-ailla!” rising on a steep pitch of sound from a hundred savage throats.
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